With apologies to Shakespeare, this seems to sum up where the Kansas Legislature finds itself.

Hamlet’s soliloquy is a statement by a depressed Prince Hamlet as he considers his own demise. He speaks about the unfairness of life and the pain associated with life but still acknowledges the alternative might (in the end) be worse. The Kansas Legislature finds itself in a similar position as did Prince Hamlet as he struggled with life and death; to tax and face political demise or not to tax and leave the state and its citizens foundering.

Today on the floor of the House the latest effort to solve the state’s financial woes (SB 270) was defeated on a voice vote after a relatively short debate. The topics debated on the House floor relative to taxes were a reflection of those discussed in the House Appropriations Committee during the veto session. Not to be outdone by their colleagues across the rotunda, similar verbal skirmishes have been held in the Senate Tax Committee. The state is firmly in a fiscal crisis.

Some legislators approach solving the crisis by stating “we just need the cuts to have time to have an impact on the state.” Other legislators believe that they should only raise consumption taxes and leave small businesses and others alone. Some do not want to increase consumption taxes. Some legislators do not want to raise property taxes (local governments will need to do that to survive). Some want to increase property taxes especially in rural Kansas. Some do not want to slow down the income tax cuts while others want to slow those cuts down or eliminate them. Some would rather continue down the path of cutting more government services. What is clear is that there are myriad competing agendas and opinions.

Finally, there are many deep political divisions regarding how to raise state revenues (taxes). The depth of these divisions when paired with “to be or not to be” question has brought this legislative session to a very literal halt.

In other news under the dome:

The Senate Ways and Means Committee cancelled their meeting this morning.